Sunday, March 4, 2012

Even though it's only March, it's already spring here in Central Texas.

After our exceptionally mild winter and welcome rains, the early bloomers are already hard at work in my garden.

In addition to the daffodils I included in my last post, many of the other perennials are already flowering.

This loropetalum is bursting with hot pink fringe-like blooms.

It's the one I've pruned to become a small tree.

These pretty little blooms below called to me at the Natural Gardener last week.

And as soon as I started typing, the name flew out of my head! I'm sure you know just what they are - they aren't mums, they might be gaillardia.

The wisteria is starting to bloom. Like last year, there is some growth on the back side of the fence, but there are plenty of buds for me to enjoy inside the fence.I love looking at the Mexican plum tree buds against the pretty blue sky.The stone wall makes a nice backdrop for the trailing lavender lantana behind the pool.The hellebores would have preferred a colder winter, but some of them are giving me some blooms -- this is 'winter's wren.'The strawberries are blooming their ever-loving heads off! Soon we will be able to eat more than one ripe one at a time. I long for the day when we get a small bowl full.My absolute favorite low-grower is 'homestead' verbena. That bright purple color is just stunning.All of my blackfoot daisies are back again from last year. You just can't beat these little guys for drought tolerance.The alyssum is mounding up all over along the rock path already.'May night' salvia can do great in the garden here, but my luck with them has been hit and miss. I love their low-growing form, but they are hard to get established.Kallie's window box is full of little pretties that I got last weekend at the Natural Gardener.After some slacking last year, many of my irises are showing off for the first time. I don't know the name of the purple or the white iris, though I believe the white one may be a pass along from Pam of Digging or Annie of The Transplantable Rose.As always, Fletcher wanted to know what I was doing in the garden with that camera around my neck, so he had to come check out the salvia, too! I'm sure he thought there must be something edible in there!

9 comments:

You do have a lot of things blooming already. My Loropetalum is starting to bloom but the May Night Salvia is still about 2 inches tall. Your pretty little purple daisy is Osteospermum or Cape Daisy. Mine stayed green all winter!

I sure do like the purple pretties. I may just have to make a trip to your house to get some pictures - I've been wanting to replace the picture on our fireplace (currently a picture of soap film), but I want something that's purple with green and/or yellow.

The white iris is from Annie in Austin. Mine from her is blooming too. The purple is probably from me. I've given away divisions of two purples in recent years. The medium-purple is 'Amethyst Flame,' and it tends to bloom early, so I suspect that's what you have -- although they have not even set buds in my garden yet. The other is a passalong from Tina at My Gardener Says that I call Shoshana's iris, after her daughter. It's a bluish lavender and tends to bloom later.

That really is a pretty little salvia. Does it stay that low? If so I might get some. My garden is looking droopy too, especially the bluebonnets but they are all grateful for the rain. I could do with a little less cold, though!DId you turn your security words back on. They are so hard to read!

Lancashire Rose - The May Night is very compact and stays that way. It's 8-10 inches tall, a tight form with more rigid stalks than most others so it handles the wind. It's a very bright purple, which I like.

Pam -- Thanks for the iris update. I did think those were yours. They are still blooming.

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